Reincarnation of the Cloud Dragon - Chapter 21

—————
This chapter is translated by Falnar Novels Team.
Support us by reading on our official site: https://falnarnovels.com
—————

Chapter 21.
“I grant it.”
Those words settled the roiling atmosphere of the Training Ground like a stone cast into turbulent waters.
Every eye now fixed upon a single trainee—the one who would face Chuk Mu Gwang, the Broad Blood Saber.
Clang.
Yun Cheon ascended onto the Combat Platform.
The contrast between them was stark and unsettling.
A trainee shackled like a prisoner, heavy iron rings binding each limb.
And an instructor at the pinnacle of mastery.
The sight was so peculiar that the noise of the Training Ground vanished in an instant, as if doused by cold water.
In that absolute silence, only the sound of Ma Chung and Ya Jin swallowing hard from the Instructor’s Seat rang clear.
‘Damn it… the original plan was for him to shine against the other trainees, but if it comes to this, is my investment wasted?’
Ma Chung clutched his head.
‘Wait, what if he actually performs well against Instructor Chuk Mu Gwang? But… is that even possible?’
Beside him, Ya Jin’s eyes were equally turbulent.
‘Did Instructor Chuk Mu Gwang recognize the boy’s potential? If this continues, it may become difficult to take him to the Shadowless Kill Sect….’
Senior Instructor Ya Jin realized he could no longer monopolize Yun Cheon on his own terms.
‘Of all times, an observer had to show up! The competition will intensify. I need to contact the sect immediately.’
Only Yu Ha watched with gleaming eyes, savoring this extraordinary spectacle.
‘Instructor Chuk Mu Gwang and Yun Cheon… given the instructor’s nature, this will unfold in ways the other trainees cannot comprehend.’
On the Combat Platform, Chuk Mu Gwang stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Young pup, this time there are no restrictions on your inner circle like before. Can you manage in that state?”
Yun Cheon’s answer was brief.
“…I will simply do my best.”
At that very moment, just as the match was about to begin, Yalü Hee stepped forward.
“Chief Instructor! Instructor Chuk Mu Gwang stands at a higher realm than the other instructors! Therefore, his level must be taken into account when evaluating this trainee.”
At her bold proclamation, a faint smile—imperceptible to others—crossed Gal Mu Heun’s lips as he sat upon the Elevated Platform.
‘Ah, so this is the daughter of the Yalü Family. She has considerable spirit. It cannot have been easy to step forward in such an atmosphere.’
He nodded as if it were only natural and spoke.
“Of course… I shall take it into account.”
By Gal Mu Heun’s standards, Yalü Hee’s action aligned with the Demonic Way.
As his epithet “One Stroke, Lost Soul” suggested, he was a master of calligraphy possessed of profound learning.
The spirit and conviction that bowed to no one before strength—that was the Demonic Way he pursued.
“Even should Instructor Chuk Mu Gwang refrain from using his inner power, he remains a master far exceeding the ordinary level of instructors. This fact shall be reflected in Yun Cheon’s evaluation.”
Gal Mu Heun’s gaze turned toward Yun Cheon.
“Since your opponent has been suddenly changed, is there anything else you wish for the sake of a fair match?”
Yalü Hee cried out silently.
‘Ask for less time to endure, or request some other constraint! With your mind, thinking of an appropriate limitation should be simple!’
But Yun Cheon’s answer defied everyone’s expectations.
“Please allow me to exchange offense and defense from the beginning, as Muk Ha Jin did.”
Disappointment and shock flashed across Yalü Hee’s face.
‘What an idiot! He’s going to face Instructor Chuk Mu Gwang without any restrictions from the start? That’s insane!’
Only Yu Ha smiled as he watched Yun Cheon.
‘Well… evading the attacks of a master at the peak realm would actually be harder than enduring them. But to not impose any other restrictions… Yun Cheon will have no choice but to reveal his true capabilities.’
Gal Mu Heun’s eyes also gleamed with interest.
‘Yalü Hee, Yu Ha, and Yun Cheon… The trainees of Zamadong this time might be worth cultivating directly. It’s a shame there are observers present.’
Finally, he declared the start of the match.
“If that is the trainee’s wish, so be it. Begin the duel.”
Dong—!
The gong rang out, and the duel between Yun Cheon and Chuk Mu Gwang commenced.
“Last time, I noticed you made good use of distance and spacing. The fundamentals of footwork—knowing when to advance and when to retreat.”
Chuk Mu Gwang moved first.
With his hands still clasped behind his back, he merely danced his feet lightly, yet his silhouette closed the distance at remarkable speed.
Agility incarnate.
“A rare achievement for your age… but this time, since I am not confined within a circle as before, the dynamics will differ somewhat from last time.”
Chuk Mu Gwang pressed forward with swift footwork, bearing down on Yun Cheon.
Each step he took seemed to cut off another avenue of retreat.
‘He asked for unrestricted offense and defense, so he wants to test footwork first?’
Sensing Chuk Mu Gwang’s intent, Yun Cheon responded with the Wuji Step.
Weighted by the heavy iron rings, he moved deliberately slower with each stride.
To the trainees watching, it was clear that Yun Cheon’s footwork was inferior.
“The speed difference is enormous!”
“Truly… the footwork of a master at the peak!”
Helpless against Chuk Mu Gwang’s light probing, Yun Cheon appeared to be retreating and defending desperately.
At this precarious sight, the trainees in the stands began to snicker openly.
“What is this? Is he joking?”
“He can’t even move properly because of those iron rings!”
“He dares face the instructor without removing the rings? His arrogance knows no bounds!”
Yet as time passed, the duel flowed in a peculiar manner.
Yun Cheon’s movements were neither swift nor unpredictable, yet strangely, they unsettled Chuk Mu Gwang’s composure.
‘I’ve already seen Instructor Chuk Mu Gwang’s movements once before.’
The actual distance was certainly short.
Yet Yun Cheon seemed to be several steps ahead, not just one.
As if he were anticipating every advance and retreat.
‘This boy’s movements themselves aren’t fast, but where he positions himself is remarkably subtle…!’
Though Chuk Mu Gwang was clearly the one moving faster, Yun Cheon remained inexplicably elusive.
“…?”
“What’s happening?”
“Could it be… the instructor is going easy on him?”
“Of course. The instructor said he would take that into account.”
“That was said to be taken into account during the evaluation, not overlooked…”
On the Training Ground, fierce footwork exchanges continued to unfold.
Yet among the trainees unable to comprehend such techniques, bewildered questions erupted.
However, Gal Mu Heun, master of the Demonic Sect, saw through the situation at a glance.
‘Extraordinary…! That is the Subtlety of Dullness! A step that dominates space and flow rather than speed… how can a mere trainee already be walking his own martial path?’
Yu Ha too could not suppress his shock.
‘A monster of a fellow. How is this even possible? Even if there are many prodigies among those afflicted with severed meridians… this is absurd talent!’
But Yun Cheon’s inner thoughts were different.
Once Kunlun’s greatest swordsman, known by the epithet Yun Ryong.
The hellish training of the past months and countless medicinal herbs had tempered his body like steel and stabilized his vital energy.
‘…Though they say I cannot use inner force due to severed meridians, my opponent faces the same limitation.’
In a technique duel under equal conditions, there was no reason for him to lose to even a peak-level martial artist.
‘Heh… what an absurd turn of events. Where did such a creature crawl out from?’
The most astonished was Chuk Mu Gwang, who was sparring directly against him.
The hem of Yun Cheon’s robe, seeming to touch yet never quite touching the tip of his fist, was eroding his patience.
Not only had he failed to gain superiority in footwork.
His fists, palms, and kicks repeatedly cut through empty air.
‘Damn it, it’s not even fast, yet I can’t land a hit…!’
In the three-on-one sparring match from before, it was Yun Cheon who had been concealing his true strength.
‘Even after having him investigated, nothing remarkable came up. A street orphan picked up from the gutter is truly a once-in-a-thousand-years prodigy?’
As he was reeling from this realization.
Yun Cheon’s eyes, having thoroughly memorized Chuk Mu Gwang’s footwork patterns, gleamed with cold light.
Now it was time to repay the debt.
Whoosh—.
In an instant, Yun Cheon’s feet moved at a peculiar angle, penetrating Chuk Mu Gwang’s perimeter by the thickness of a single sheet of paper.
A movement like shadow seeping through.
At that sight, Ya Jin’s eyes widened in astonishment.
‘That movement is… the Shadowless Step of our sect? While carrying that massive metal frame? No, rather using that weight to anchor his center!’
In an instant, Yun Cheon’s upper body vanished from sight.
Then a fierce rotation stirred the wind.
Tearing through the gale, a sharp kick shot forth.
The target was singular—Chuk Mu Gwang’s ribs.
“That’s… that’s my Blood Wind Kick!”
Ma Chung sprang to his feet without thinking.
‘That monster! He’s demonstrating my martial technique against Instructor Chuk Mu Gwang! He hasn’t forgotten his promise?’
It was a promise Ma Chung himself had not expected to be kept.
To think he would actually demonstrate his technique against an instructor.
‘What audacity!’
Chuk Mu Gwang attempted to brush away Yun Cheon’s Blood Wind Kick lightly with a hand strike.
However, Yun Cheon, as if anticipating even this, folded his leg mid-technique.
Then, spinning another half rotation, I drove my heel into the lower section of Chuk Mu Gwang’s body.
Crack!
Finally, Chuk Mu Gwang released his clasped hands for the first time, blocking the kick with his palm.
As a result, he retreated half a step.
That ‘half step’ was the signal flare.
“Just now, didn’t that look like Ya Jin’s Shadowless Step?”
“The leg technique is Ma Chung’s! Blood Wind Sect!”
“Wh… Yun Cheon attacked the instructor?”
In that instant, the shoulders of Ya Jin and Ma Chung shot up as if reaching toward the heavens.
‘To employ my Shadowless Step so naturally… I absolutely must bring this boy into the Shadowless Kill Sect…!’
‘This insane bastard! Actually demonstrating Blood Wind Sect techniques against the instructor! My investment is a massive success!’
The two investors’ expressions shifted from despair to astonishment, and then to exhilaration.
Now they began genuinely cheering for Yun Cheon.
Yun Cheon no longer focused solely on defense and evasion.
The occasional brilliant counterattacks that erupted made it clear that Chuk Mu Gwang could no longer rely on bare-handed martial arts alone.
‘…Even without wielding a weapon, to face this level of opposition…’
Chuk Mu Gwang was confident he could suppress any instructor with bare hands alone.
Thus, the shock he felt was all the greater.
Sinews bulged across his brow.
“Ugh…”
A low groan escaped between his lips.
Before everyone’s eyes, he had shown the shameful sight of retreating half a step against a mere trainee.
Though humiliation kindled his rage, what surged forth even more powerfully was pure exhilaration at the glimpse of martial prowess this young upstart had revealed.
‘I acknowledge it… young one. Your footwork is not inferior to mine.’
He no longer regarded Yun Cheon as a mere upstart.
‘You are already a true martial artist.’
Just then, the gong was struck.
Dong—!
The sound announcing that half a period had elapsed since the start of the sparring match rang out clearly across the entire Training Ground.
The referee’s cry followed.
“Half period elapsed! Affix the iron badges!”
Chuk Mu Gwang, without taking his gaze from Yun Cheon, withdrew a palm-sized iron badge from his robes and attached it to his chest.
Now Chuk Mu Gwang had something to defend.
The match structure was shifting toward a capture battle.
However, Chuk Mu Gwang paused the match momentarily and spoke to a nearby instructor.
“…Give me a wooden sword.”
At those words, the entire Training Ground stirred with unease.
“A… wooden sword?”
“Against a trainee… the instructor is taking up a weapon?”
It was unprecedented.
When Chuk Mu Gwang drew his blade, it was a declaration that he would face his opponent with full force.
The moment he grasped the wooden sword, the dignity vanished from the instructor’s face.
In its place remained only eyes cold and cruel, like those of a starving beast.
The bloody killing intent and madness pressed down upon the entire Training Ground like a tangible force.
‘Mad Blood Blade’.
At last, his epithet revealed its true nature.
“Now the real match begins, whelp.”
Before that overwhelming momentum, Yun Cheon shook his head, breathing heavily for the first time.
“…I cannot continue any further.”
Words akin to a declaration of defeat.
At his words, the trainees let out exclamations mixed with regret and relief.
“You fought well, Yun Cheon!”
“That was impressive!”
“The instructor drew his weapon—there’s nothing to be done about that!”
Ma Chung and Ya Jin were just about to sigh with relief, thinking ‘he did more than enough’, when—
But Yun Cheon’s actions were different.
Rather than accept defeat, a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.
An incongruous sound echoed through the quiet Training Ground.
Click—
All eyes turned toward the source of the sound.
Yun Cheon calmly unfastened the joints of the iron rings that bound his legs.
Thud!
The heavy metallic mass struck the Combat Platform floor, striking at everyone’s hearts.
Only then did the trainees’ eyes register the grotesque metal shackles that had constrained Yun Cheon’s limbs.
Shock engulfed the Training Ground.
“What… what is that?”
“The… the sound is incredibly heavy!”
“Iron rings! Now that I think about it, he was wearing those the whole time!”
“…He wasn’t fighting at full strength against the instructor?”
Yun Cheon stretched his now-lightened body.
Crack, crack.
The sound of bones clicking in their joints echoed.
The weight that had constrained his movements had vanished.
“Ahh… my body finally feels lighter.”
His body felt buoyant, like a compressed spring suddenly released.
Chuk Mu Gwang’s eyes too were tinged with shock.
“Ha….”
Yu Ha, Yalü Hee, and even Gal Mu Heun on the Elevated Platform—
All their eyes widened.
Somehow, they had all forgotten the existence of the iron rings fastened around Yun Cheon’s limbs.
To that extent, Yun Cheon’s sparring was utterly overwhelming.
Yun Cheon spoke in a low voice, yet his words rang out with crystalline clarity across the entire Training Ground.
“Shall we go again, Instructor?”

—————
This chapter is translated by Falnar Novels Team.
Support us by reading on our official site: https://falnarnovels.com
—————